Not so friendly gun stores

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Loki

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I've been shooting and hanging around guns stores for over 20 years and one of the things that constantly amazes me is how some of these stores employees/owners mistreat customers. I've seen such range from outright hostility to beniegn neglect. I used to think "how do they stay in business?" Well in my area the answer it seems is that they don't. Seems some of the chain sporting goods stores in addition to offering better prices also give better customer service. Anybody else have the same experience?
 
It boogles my mind. I have NO idea how they get away with it.
Theres is one in SLC thats like that right now - Doug's Shootin Sports. I will not step one foot in there ever again.

Pro Arms was like that too - if you were not a regular officer/customer or were not in uniform - forget about trying to get help.
They defined poor customer service - but they are gone now. They had one redeeming quality - other than service - it was a great store. I saw WAS, because they are closed now.
 
Yep, I've been glared at by gun store clerks for no reason other than my having entered the premises. That's *all* of the clerks glaring in exactly the same direction (toward me) at exactly the same time. Like a force field. Kinda funny in a way. These are the stores I don't go back to.

Thank goodness, there are other gun stores, like Tex-Guns in Austin or Fountain Firearms in Houston, where customers are treated with courtesy and respect.

Of course, the courteous gun stores don't necessarily stay in business, either. I remember one place, Kodiak Guns, also in Austin, TX, where the folks were great. But unfortunately the shop went out of business anyway.

[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited June 16, 2000).]
 
jimmy,
Glad to hear that comment about Kodiak Guns in Austin, my cousin and his bro in law were partners in it, tried real hard to keep the doors open but it wasnt meant to be.

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No man is above the law and no man is below it,nor do we ask any mans permission when we require him to obey it.
 
Same way here in Orlando. One place asked me to leave because I didnt look old enough to be 21. All they had to do was look at my ID. I might have even bought something from them.
 
I walked into my favorite shop last week just to see if they had a G30 on hand and how much they were asking for it. I didn't see one in the diplay shelves so I thought I'd ask the "gentleman" behind the counter if they were having problems keeping this model in stock. You would have thought I'd asked him what my name is. He was all sputtering about oh well we blah, blah, blah, being sarcastic, and then he finally quit and said with a tone of utter disbelief that I had even asked such a stupid question. "I don't know when we get them, they just show up every now and then". I stood there looking at this clown thinking, well if you don't know just tell me so. I only thought he might have an idea about how often they have this piece. He works there so he should have an idea as to whether or not they have problems keeping them in stock. Then I asked how much they usually are and of course I got the same dribble about how he had no idea. You'd a thought I was asking about some kind of strange un-heard of gun but I was asking about a Glock for cryin out loud. Anyways my revenge will be to go in and ask him to speak to someone else when they do have one and buy it from the other guy :p . Hit em in the pockets and maybe they'll learn. I find it hard to believe these people work on a commission.
 
Cobraman, what was the store in the Orlando area that gave you grief?. I'd like to know if it's the same shop that I have a problem with.. would it be located in Apopka? Mark / FL
 
I had same experience at Pro Arms, and yes their redeeming factor was a good store. I went and asked a question, and was belittled, even laughed at by so called experts. Turned out they were wrong anyway!
Oh well, they are gone now. The gun store that treats me like a customer is the gun store I buy my guns at.

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"Vote with a Bullet."
 
Forgot to mention that there is a cool gun store in Orem, where I bought my Vepr. Good price, too! I'm from Wyoming, but visit gun stores in Colorado and Utah, as there isn't too many "cool" gun stores here. If there is somebody let me know.
 
I must be hanging out in the right places. I've never had a rude response in a gun shop. Most all of them around here, the one behind the counter is the owner or a member of his family. They know their livelihood depends on happy customers and repeat business. When I was looking at a couple of options one day, the shop even called the local range to see which of the pistols I was considering were available for rent, so I could try 'em out.

In another place I met a very personable young lady who had a wealth of product knowledge. No matter what you asked her about the dozen brands in the display case, she had an answer ready. Asked a lot of smart questions about my intended uses, and came up with good recommendations. She was just reeling off stuff about stopping power, warranties, brands of ammo, who made good holsters for which brands, and on and on. Impressed the heck out of me, and not because she was a woman, but because I so seldom meet sales people who can tech-talk their own product instead of "going for the close". Try asking a car salesman how the anti-lock brakes interact with the active suspension system, or, if you're a glutton for punishment, ask questions about computers in places like Best Buy. (I've been in information systems for 20 years, and I know techno-BS when I hear it.)

Like any other business, there are enough good operators that you don't have to waste time with the grouchy ones. Vote with your feet and with your dollars!

Central Florida folks should consider Buck's Gun Rack in Daytona, AAA Pawn and Gun in De Land and Pat's Pawn & Gun in Leesburg. All nice people.


[This message has been edited by David Scott (edited June 15, 2000).]
 
I've never been treated rudely, ignored some, but never treated rudely. I wonder though about an owner who leaves a new employee alone in medium sized store. Two weeks ago this salesperson couldn't remove the magazine from a Custom Shop Kimber(thought the release was on the bottom) and finally gave it to me with the mag in and the slide open. At least they were interested enough to watch me remove it. John
 
I've encountered various levels of service (and NON-service!) at gun shops. One time as a kid - maybe 11 or 12 - I really felt antagonism, and that was when my father took me to "The Gun Room" at the Abercrombie and Fitch store in downtown Chicago. This was years before A&F became PC-Yuppiefied, and the Chicago store had a reputation for carrying serious hardware like English DB express rifles, high-grade shotguns, etc. When we walked in the clerk and a customer (?) just glared at us - there actually seemed to be hatred in their eyes. When the clerk finally yelled across the store "What do YOU TWO want", my dad said "Not a damn thing from here!" and we left. (And yes, we WERE dressed respectably, and the old man wouldn't have tolerated my messing around in there.)

Kinda makes me wonder if we interrupted something that was best done without witnesses...
 
These are two things that burn me up.

Misinformation - I won't bother you with a list.

Here's another. I see a gun I like but I don't want to buy it now.

I might want to trade a gun for some credit towards it.

Thus, I ask about such a trade and preface my remarks that I know this is not binding and I am only asking hypothetical to see if I can do it.

The responses I hate are:

What do you want for it? (the trade)

I have to see it even to make an offer.

Do these guys learn this in marketing.

The values of guns in the ball park region are wellknown to anyone competent.

Also, if I'm going to pack up something and make a trip, I want to know if we are in a real range here of negotiations.

I think they are just seeing if they can lowball you.

I show a perfectly fine gun to a dealer at a show and he starts by saying, Why this gun must be spitting lead. Oh, drop dead. It doesn't.

I've established relationships with guys who go by the book and then deal realistically.
The others make me ill.
 
Just moved into the area from another state and didn't know where anything was or who was good or who was bad. Looked through the phone book for gun dealers. Came across an ad in the yellow pages saying something to the effect that they stocked everything and would beat any price. As the place was nearly an hour's drive away from me (in one direction), I didn't want to make a wasted trip if they didn't have.

So I called up to see if they had the model and what it was going for. The guy said that he had it in stock but wouldn't discuss price over the phone. I replied that his ad sayings that he'll beat any price and I was calling around to see if he had the best deal. He replied that if I was going to buy from him just based on price, then he didn't want my business and hung up.
 
My friend just got taken for a ride on a trade with our local gunshop. He was promised store credit for the balance of the trade, but when he went in to redeem it a week later, he was told that he must have been "mistaken". That is not what his reciept said. He is going to the AZ Attorney General's Consumer Fraud Division to lodge a compiaint. This jerk just lost two customers, who between us have spent over $1000 in his store,over a $300 store credit.

BTW The store in question is Mandall's Shooting Supplies in Scottsdale AZ.

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BOYCOTT SMITH AND WESSON!!!
Defend the Constitution from the foreign threat!!!!

Yeah, I got a permit to carry,it's called the friggin Constitution.---Ted Nugent

"Man killing is nasty business"---Finn Aggard
 
One of the BEST gun stores that I've ever been in was YORK ARMS in Memphis, Tennessee, when it was located downtown on Main St. this store later moved out on Summer Ave (I think) then on a trip back to Memphis to visit my folks I was told that YORK ARMS had closed. What a sad thing to hear.....like losing a friend. Charlie York is (was?) a great guy and treated his customers like he wanted them to return, which is the way any smart businessman should do.

Sorry about being so long on this but this was a GREAT gunstore and now it's gone. :(


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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
Be a woman and walk into a gun store. We get to see a whole different side of sales people. We get either the good-ol'-boys'-horrified-stare that says, "OMG! There's estrogen in my store!" or the mechanic's-dollar-sign-stare that says "Guess I'll be able to afford that vacation after all." or the ever-helpful-but-patronizing-stare that says, "Let's help the little woman out. Seein' as she has overies, she obviously don't know what to do with a gun."

I usually run into the last. A few months back I went pistol shopping. The older guy behind the counter starts to tell me how a woman shouldn't have a Glock.
"Why" says I.
"Cause when you pull the trigger, it fires." says he.
"I thought that was the whole idea behind a firearm." says I - with my best No-S***-Sherlock face on.
"Well, if she gets nervous, she may accidentally pull the trigger." he says.
I just stare at him.(At this point the other male employees are slowly distancing themselves from him.)
"Men don't get nervous." I ask.
"Well ... " Lightbulb begins to glow. It's just starting to sink in that he's digging himself a nice little hole. Other male employees now get out o' Dodge.
I ask to see other guns.
"Well ... a Glock should never be carried in a purse." he says, trying to get out of the growing hole.
"I NEVER carry in my purse."
After I look a few guns over, work with em, etc., he finally leans over the counter and says, "You've shot all your life, haven't you?"
"Yup" I say.
"You can handle a Glock." He says, confident he's gotten himself out of his hole.
"I know I can handle a Glock." I say, "I just don't think I want to buy it here."

I didn't want the Glock anyway, but I wasn't about to tell him that! :D


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Refuse to be a "helpless" victim.
Knowing Your Rights WAGC in Indiana
 
I think I should be gettin a commission at my local range. The guys pretty much all know their stuff. But every now and then there will be someone looking at a (insert brand/model here) and the guys will yell over at me.. Hey Bubba... don't you have a (insert brand/model again)?? You wanna tell these folks about it? LOL... They know I love almost all of my guns (and they also know the ones I HATE!) and know I love to talk about them. Heck, I even let some of them shoot the model in question if the store doesn't have one in the rental counter. Most of the time.. they make the sale because they have told the person good information... and a third party has confirmed it.

I guess I am lucky here in Austin. We do tend to have some good stores. I've never been treated poorly in any of them.

Bubba
 
Claemore 70 - Wyoming huh? 5 more years and move over cause I'll be coming! Either Laramie or Cody I haven't decided yet. What part are you in? Don't tell me "no good gun stores"!
 
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